Led by three candidates for Thursday's Parliamentary Election, about 50 demonstrators marched down the main street of Nuku'alofa this morning March 14, protesting about the privatisation of Tonga's electricity supply.

Led by Semisi Tapueluelu, ...‘Alani Taione and Filini Sikuea, who are hoping to win Tongatapu seats in Parliament, the demonstrators marched quietly to the Palace Office where they presented a petition for the King, to the king's Assistant Private Secretary, Sateki ...‘Ahio.

Semisi Tapueluelu, an organiser of the march, said that there were about 60 signatories to the petition, which expressed their dissatisfaction with how Shoreline Power runs the country...’s power supply. In addition they objected to the recent rise in the price of electricity by 11 seniti per unit.

Semisi said that it was within the power of the King to address the dissatisfaction of the people.

After presenting their petition to the King, the demonstrators then marched to the Supreme Court where Professor Futa Helu addressed the crowd. In a surprise change of heart, Futa called on the people of Tongatapu to vote for Clive Edwards as the No. 1 People's Representative for Tongatapu. Futa also called on the people to remember other candidates for Tongatapu, such as Semisi Tapueluelu and ...‘Alani Taione, and others.

Clive Edwards is one of the legal counsel representing the 25 plaintiffs who today filed a case against the Tonga Electric Power Board and Shoreline Power.

Clive said that the Plaintiffs claim that the Tonga Electric Power Board did not have the legal right to lease its power generation facility to Shoreline Power. He said that the TEPB were given the right to generate electricity but not to lease to anybody else. Because the action that was taken by the TEPB was illegal, power generation should be returned to the TEPB.

The second claim made by the Plaintiffs was that the recent rise in electricity charge was illegal because Shoreline did not supply the required documents and evidence that there was a need for a rise.

Shoreline is a privately owned company under the chairmanship of the Crown Prince, Tupouto'a.